Kyle Edmund wins $250,000 and doubles his season’s prize money in the space of three hours
British youngster Kyle Edmund’s landmark week culminated in lucrative fashion on Saturday night when he more than doubled his 2015 earnings with victory at the inaugural Tie Break Tens event in London.
The 20-year-old, part of Great Britain’s historic Davis Cup triumph in Belgium just six days earlier, beat team-mate Andy Murray in the final of the exhibition competition at the Royal Albert Hall.
Edmund scooped $250,000 (£165,000) for winning the tournament, in which players face each other in first-to-10 points tie-breaks – more than doubling his $205,000 (£136,000) tally for the rest of the season in just three hours and substantially increasing a career prize money total that previously stood at $410,000 (£271,000).
“I’m very pleased,” said world No102 Edmund. “It’s important to use the money smartly. The best thing is to invest it in my career. If I invest in support and trainers, it’s going to help me on court.”
The South Africa-born prospect also attracted praise from distinguished fellow competitors at the event, including Murray, seven-time grand slam champion John McEnroe and former British No1 Tim Henman.
“He’s playing really well just now,” said Murray. “He’s made some big improvements this year, but there is a lot of hard work that needs to be done if he wants to keep getting better.
“To go from 200 to 100 is tough, to get from 100 to 50 is harder, even from 50 to 40 it starts to get much, much harder as you move up the rankings, but provided he keeps working hard and pushing himself, there’s no reason why he can’t get up there.”
“I liked what I saw,”| said McEnroe. “He’s made some great progress. He’s a better athlete than I thought, his backhand was more solid. He’s got a huge forehand, he pops that serve and he rose to the occasion. He’s got huge upside.”
Henman called Edmund “really impressive” and backed him to progress further next year. “This is just scratching the surface for him,” he added. “I don’t think it will be long before he’s knocking on the door of the Top 50.”